No Port Southport pitches vision for NCIT land to county commissioners

BOLIVIA—With the proposed North Carolina International Terminal project on hold indefinitely, members of the No Port Southport group want to work with county commissioners to bring in clean, green industry to the site.

Harry Burrell of No Port Southport, making a presentation to county commissioners on Monday, said the group had, “a new vision for the land that was originally purchased for North Carolina International Terminal.”

“In the past, we may have been on opposite sides of this particular fence,” Burrell told commissioners about the proposed port.

But the decision to put the project on hold, “opens up a common ground…amongst stakeholders, the towns and municipalities listed behind you as well as the county and the state.”

Burrell said the group planned to initiate a process to generate “good, well-paying jobs that are also ecologically sound.”

He said the county should look at purchasing the NCIT land if the Ports Authority is willing to sell. With 600 acres on the NCIT site, Burrell said there were “a number of uses that could co-exist in a multi-use plan that fulfils this vision.”

“We met with the county economic development commission to open a dialogue on this, and we were quite pleased to get a general agreement that there is common ground,” Burrell said.

County commissioners chairman Bill Sue said commissioners were not at a point to consider purchasing the NCIT land.

Old Georgetown Road roundabouts

Kristine O’Connor, North Carolina Department of Transportation Planning Engineer for the Old Georgetown Road extension project, said the project would have two proposed roundabouts in lieu of signalized intersections.

O’Connor said roundabouts, which are slated for the intersections at N.C. 179 and Old Georgetown Road and Ocean Isle Beach Road and Old Georgetown Road were safer, less expensive and had fewer delays than signalized intersections.

A roundabout instead of a signalized intersection “reduces accidents by about 50 percent,” O’Connor said.